{"id":29584,"date":"2019-11-01T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T04:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=29584"},"modified":"2021-01-02T07:38:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T12:38:39","slug":"ad-icons-mystery-minis-general-mills-cereal-monsters-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2019\/11\/ad-icons-mystery-minis-general-mills-cereal-monsters-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Ad Icons Mystery Minis - General Mills Cereal Monsters reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horror Month may have been totally hogged by the black-and-white Universal Monsters, but they're not the only deeply iconic horror characters released this year.<\/p>\n

\"Funko<\/p>\n

In 1971, General Mills debuted a new cereal, and with it, a new cereal mascot: Count Chocula. Count Chocula (the cereal) was the first chocolate-flavored cereal ever put on the market; Count Chocula (the character) was created by General Mills' ad agency, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample - specifically, by copywriter Laura Levine - and was drawn by George Carn, who'd also designed the Trix Rabbit. These days, he's voiced by Larry Kenny, the original Lion-O<\/a>, doing a secondhand Bela Lugosi impersonation (continuing the pattern set by original actor Jim Dukas).<\/p>\n

Choc (whose first name, according to lots of places around the internet that cite no kind of actual sources, is \"Alfred\") is wearing old-fashioned clothes, with a brown tuxedo and cape, a white shirt with frilly sleeves poking out at his wrists, and white spats. His brown hair comes up into two inexplicable points, which almost feel like they influenced Gary Oldman's hair in the 1992 movie. Or maybe Wolverine. He has pointy ears and two sharp fangs in the front, like Nosferatu<\/a>, and a chin that suggests his \"count\" title means he's actually descended from the infamous Hapsburg line<\/a>. Because of how large his nose is, it's a separate piece that has to be glued into place. He's posed holding his hands out before him (like another<\/a> vampire we could mention), and the eyes are painted so he's looking off to the side. For some reason, there are two of him in every case.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Franken Berry was created at the same time as Count Chocula - they're both following Lucky Charms' lead, by mixing puffed grain cereals with marshmallows, just in different flavors. A lot of countries don't have marshmallows in their cereal even today, because they consider marshamallows to be candy, not fruit. General Mills wanted to introduce both cereals at the same time, which is why Laura Levine worked to create two characters who fit a common theme. <\/p>\n

Since Franken Berry (the cereal) was the first strawberry-flavored cereal, Franken Berry (the character) is bright, bright pink. The original design gave him fingernails shaped like strawberries as well, but this Mini lacks any such thing. C'mon, Funko, he's already holding one finger up by his face, would it have been such a dealbreaker to put some red paint on there? He's got sleepy eyes, which go along with his faux-Boris-Karloff voice (originally performed by Bob McFadden - aka Thundercats<\/i>' Snarf, among others - but these days by Rob Pruitt, who also voices the Blue M&M).<\/p>\n

Frank shows his influences thanks to the plates riveted around his eyes, plus the steam whistle and pressure gauge sticking out the sides of his head. because he's a big, burly character, he uses chains as suspenders - those get a silver paint app, which is rather sloppy, it must be said. Also, the fact that the tops of he feet are the same sort of pink as his skin makes it look like he's wearing slippers instead of shoes. Is that the idea? Hard to tell. There's a big ugly seam around the base of the head, but that adds to the Frankenstein feeling, doesn't it?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Hot on the success of Count Chocula and Franken Berry, General Mills introduced the first blueberry-flavored cereal, Boo Berry, in 1973. Frankenstein and Dracula were chosen as the inspiration for the first two mascots because the Universal Monsters were very popular at the time - seriously, Universal Monsters in the '70s were like superheroes today. To make their monsters kid-friendly, General Mills portrayed them in commercials as total scaredy-cats: they were rivals to each other about who had the better cereal, but then they were scared out of their wits whenever they met a child. Great way to tone them down and make them safe for even the littlest kids! So naturally, they were utterly terrified when they met their new neighbor, Boo Berry.<\/p>\n

In his first commercial, Boo was chained to his cereal box and bowl like Jacob Marley<\/a> (though as far as we know, Jacob's chains weren't clamped to his nipples, like Boo's). The modern incarnation of the ghost goes all-in on his chosen colorscheme, with a blue hat and a purple bowtie; this Mini is based on the retro design, where his hat was yellow and his tie was red.<\/p>\n

Boo Berry is the shortest of the Mystery Mini<\/i> cereal monsters, largely because he doesn't have any legs - just an ectoplasmic tail drifting away from his body. His arms are open, like he wants a hug, and his heavy-lidded eyes go well with the character's Peter Lorre-inspired voice.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course<\/a> this is the one Ad Icons Mystery Mini<\/i> I wanted most of all, so of course<\/b> it would be packed in a 1:72 ratio, the rarest in the line (tied with the Jolly Green Giant's little sidekick, Sprout), and of course<\/b> eBay people are trying to get upwards of $70 for him. Special shout out to the guy who wanted $150 for a set of all five of these $8 figures, but got super indignant when I \"best offered\" him $50. It's more than you paid, scalper, take the win! And stop declining my offers!<\/p>\n

Fruit Brute (the cereal) was introduced in 1974, a year behind Boo Berry. It was a multi-flavored fruit mix with lime-flavored marshmallows, but failed to connect with buyers and was retired in 1982; when General Mills brought it back from the grave for 2013, it was now cherry flavored and had been renamed \"Frute\" Brute, because it didn't actually contain any fruit. Like when you buy chicken \"wyngz\" or \"krab\" legs. Or Papa John's \"pizza.\"<\/p>\n

Fruit Brute (the character) is a werewolf, because even dumb '70s kids weren't going to want a cereal with a bog monster on the front. From the front, it looks like he's trying to kiss you: his eyes are closed, his mouth is puckered, and his arms are held wide because somebody<\/b> wants a hug. Turn him to the side, and you'll see he's leaning into it! Clearly this is meant to be him howling, but they didn't want to tip the head all the way back, so he's bent forward slightly (with his tail sticking out behind to help the figure balance). The colors on his overalls represent all the various fruit flavors in the original cereal - the orange, the apple, the grape, the pomegranate, the quince, the kumquat, the kiwi, the plantain, the guava... wait, sorry, I'm thinking of Froot Loops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

After Fruit Brute folded in 1982, that left General Mills with only three monster cereals: Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula. They tried again in 1987, using the same fruit-flavored cereal but swapping the lime marshmallows for vanilla and calling it Fruity Yummy Mummy. Apparently they thought the reason Fruit Brute failed to catch on was the mascot, not the flavor? That's just silly - what's a mummy got that a werewolf doesn't? [An appeal to bondage kinksters instead of furries? --ed.] And that only lasted until 1992, three years less than its predecessor. Since they originally had the same cereal pieces, when Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy were released from the tombs in 2013, they both had to have new flavors: FB was now cherry, and YM was orange cream.<\/p>\n

The Yummy Mummy has a quite intricate sculpt, by Mystery Minis<\/i> standards: all his overlapping bandages have been molded with a bit of depth, rather than only being painted on. It makes for a great-looking Mini, though the way the head is molded means the upper part of the face might get misaligned from the lower part: if the eyes aren't centered over the mouth, you'll have to boil or freeze the figure until you can pry the glue apart, then reposition the upper half of the head.<\/p>\n

The pose may seem dull, just standing there with his arms up, but isn't that how the Mummy (the Universal one) is generally portrayed? Shambling around, dragging his feet and reaching straight ahead to grab his victim? It works. Yummy Mummy is available in a 1:24 ratio, which unexpectedly makes him more plentiful than Boo Berry.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sadly, Ad Icons Mystery Minis<\/i> is not one of those series where the figures are shown to have one ratio, but then all end up at 1:12 - from the 1:6 Count Chocula to the 1:72 Fruit Brute, their numbers are all over the place, making assembling a full set frustrating at best and literally impossible for everyone. At minimum, there are 12 times as many<\/b> Choculas in existence as there are Fruit Brutes, which is foolish! One, nobody loves Count Chocula that much, and two, at least<\/b> the three main monsters should have been available in equal numbers. Make Choc, Frank, and Boo all be 1:12, and then put Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy in at 1:24, making them alternate a slot. That would give everybody a fighting chance at them, and even if you didn't score the whole team, you'd still have the power trio to stand in that cardboard Monster Mansion<\/a> from a few years back.<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>